The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. They found that as cable television became common in California and Pennsylvania beginning around 1980, childhood autism rose more in the counties that had cable than in the counties that did not. They further found that in all the Western states, the more time toddlers spent in front of the television, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of autism disorders.The Cornell study represents a potential bombshell in the autism debate. "We are not saying we have found the cause of autism, we're saying we have found a critical piece of evidence," Cornell researcher Michael Waldman told me. Because autism rates are increasing broadly across the country and across income and ethnic groups, it seems logical that the trigger is something to which children are broadly exposed. Vaccines were a leading suspect, but numerous studies have failed to show any definitive link between autism and vaccines, while the autism rise has continued since worrisome compounds in vaccines were banned. What if the malefactor is not a chemical? Studies suggest that American children now watch about four hours of television daily. Before 1980--the first kids-oriented channel, Nickelodeon, dates to 1979--the figure is believed to have been much lower.
More:
If television viewing by toddlers is a factor in autism, the parents of afflicted children should not reproach themselves, as there was no warning of this risk. Now there is: The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends against any TV for children under the age of 2. Waldman thinks that until more is known about what triggers autism, families with children under the age of 3 should get them away from the television and keep them away.Researchers might also turn new attention to study of the Amish. Autism is rare in Amish society, and the standing assumption has been that this is because most Amish refuse to vaccinate children. The Amish also do not watch television.
Reason No. 54387 to get rid of or at least drastically curtail the role of television in your family's life.
UPDATE: I didn't catch that the date on that Easterbrook piece was 2006 -- apparently it's a "most mailed" story from Slate.com, but I didn't notice that it was two years old.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
This guy needs an enema...
Waldman's research also shows a strong correlation between autism and rain. I remain unconvinced.
I don't believe the correlation is in the TV watching and causation of autism, but in the level of the child's absorption in electronic media and the presence of the disability called autism. If your child is engaged with the screen at the exclusion of important sounds like their mother's voice, at mealtimes and in the presence of other children and toys, then it is a good indication of the need for further assessment. The video is not the culprit at this point but the indicator.
The video becomes the culprit when parents allow their children, any child autistic or not, to get locked into the visuals for hours as a babysitter to the exclusion of social interaction, learning to ask and wait for stimulation and rewards and learn the routines and social aspects of play. Anyone can be guilty of this in this day and age when we rely on electronic screen media so much.
For some time now, it has been observed that children with autism gravitate towards electronic screen media for entertainment and engagement and learn, through their natural inclination for visual and repetitive stimuli and very selective cues in their environment, to imitate full sentences and songs, practice vocal intonation, and sometimes use these utterances and mannerisms in other situations either appropriately or not so appropriately but always with some meaning. There are of course other children who want nothing to do with the screen media as they are much too anxious to attend. A recent research survey investigated preferences of children with autism when allowed access to various stimuli including media, and found that video (TV or DVD) was highly preferred over books and playing outside. These media were used both appropriately with attention and for entertainment as well as for repetitive stimuli rewinding to repeat and play soundbites or scrolling credits. If your child engages with the media in this way it should be red flag immediately. The results of the survey support the creation of videos and computer software programs that use still and video examples to exploit this visual learning style. These resources investigated in the 80s and created in the 1990's continue to be refined today. Today we know through experience and published research that children with autism and other developmental disabilities can learn to spell, read and other independent living skills and acquire social skills better through watching a video example of the skill than by being taught by a live caregiver/teacher. This is most likely because the live environment is filled with so many distractions for children with autism; so much going on around the lesson that they get distracted all the way to the glare in the teacher's glasses. That is not to say they should be separated from people, but that we should use their natural preference for visual example in this flat format as part of their learning medium and as a springboard for learning in the real world, giving them many opportunities to use the skill learned in a wide variety of ways.
The citation for finding that study is:
Shane, H., & Albert, P. (2008 September). Electronic Screen Media for Persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Results of a Survey. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,
38(8),1499-1508. Retrieved August 20, 2008
Alan Turing :Autism Revisited
Alan Turing 1912-1954 was a WWII hero, father of the computer before his time. The biography as described in The Enigma by Andrew Hodges is also unknowingly an Autism blueprint. See how autism once worked absently on its own.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Alan's Driving- My Einstein Driving
Autism Revisited- quotes from Autism's blueprint The Enigma by Andrew Hodges the biography of Alan Turing 1912-1954, father of the computer. His biography is Autism's blueprint older autistic (mostly) followed.
Page 395 Autism and driving.
"I might suddenly go mad and crash" he told Don Bailey rather dramatically. He had not done well with the car at Princeton (a 31 Ford V8) and probably tended to daydream with mathematical thoughts in a dangerous way. He preferred in any case to use his own steam," (a motorized bike)
From Rich Shull
"Daydreaming with mathematical thoughts" is probably right on the money meaning he was using picture thoughts to think with EVEN while driving. I have learned to JUST DRIVE and keep optic vision on while driving and I use Projection thoughts If I need to picture think while driving. Projection thoughts are a wonderful go between thought of Autism and normal thoughts. If Alan was in a more of a car culture like we are in the United States, I am sure he would have developed the projection thoughts probably after a few accidents. Indeed our Autistic drivers usually honed this autistic thought style after our 3rd or 4th crash. Then we never had trouble driving again as we knew to keep our optic vision on and distraction to a minimum.
Now here is the Kicker we make GREAT STUNT DRIVERS. Who else could figure the angles and speed of the cars approaching you in a crash scenario? Then figure the laws of physics to make the least of the impending crash or miss it all together? We can, autistic drivers knowing all the picture thoughts can be perfect stunt divers. It is like Einstein driving a car.
Here is my story. I was traveling down US 33 in Lancaster Ohio and a driver running a red light at Collins Road is directly in my path as (he/she) was continuing their course. I was in the passing lane heading toward Lancaster. I figured out WHEN the other diver would finally "see me" (via Years of diving experience) and then I figured they would just scream Oh **** and slam on the brakes in a panic and wait for the cash.
Well, Via Autism thoughts I figured out the stopping distance of their car with full brakes and I figured the crash point if I did nothing and then figured via the laws of Physics- I could do better by stepping on the GAS not the brakes. As I did that I would power threw the crash, If we hit lots of the crash energy would be knocked away most of the crash force would be harmlessly expelled, plus my tires would grip much better under full throttle. As it was I MISSED the event by a few millimeters. Normal emotional based drivers would have also screamed Oh **** and did nothing and indeed by default end up with the worst possible crash, as all the energy of the crash would have been concentrated in the crash zone with major injures to both parties for sure. After the crash my rear axle thumped a bit that was a small price to pay considering a real crash was just missed.
After the crash I finally did have a few emotions and a bit of build up and let down but they were after thoughts. My point is emotionless Autistic thoughts did WONDERS in allowing the same Einstein thought that makes us savants and inventors and allows us to keep us out of the crash as well. Years earlier when my 62 Pontiac featured on the front page of this blog lost all of her brakes going down hill I was able to use Autism Picture thoughts and emotionless thoughts to "read" the page from the driver eduction manual and do the stuff you do when you loose the brakes. (and they say picture thought doesn't work) I missed a crash then to. The entire student body was surrounding me saying "Good Driving" when I finally got her stopped! They seen me FLY off the hill going into Lancaster High School then when I was driving in circles to rub off some speed and then when they heard the motor roaring as I down shifted to eat up some speed it was all a signal of trouble with a capital T. I think a normal driver wood have again just panicked and crashed. As you can see Luella is still in one scratch free piece and indeed a beautiful classic car these days. Then it was just an old car and of course my autistic obsession.
If Alan would have drove more he would have got good at it like we did. Granted a 31 Ford was a chore to drive in its own right Luella at least had power steering and brakes when they worked. Many modern autistic people being brought up in the modern era have no business driving I'm sorry to say as they never had the insight developed to understand the basic autism fact of OPTIC and Brain Generated vision. Not only that few of them have developed our best picture based thoughts so they have no clue how to do normal thoughts and our natural ones That indeed makes us zombies to modern autism and also to Rain Man's curse and lackluster ways. So much for progress.
When I help new young autistic drivers of today I MUST stress the point and make them learn we NEED to step on the brakes and not just touch the pedal. Once that issue is resolved and we discuss optic and brain generated vision we do OK with some practice. It seems we naturally don't press hard enough on the brakes, perhaps that is related to our pain tolerance. Otherwise we need to sit with the car idling and listen to all the noise it makes that you never hear like the fluid flowing in the power steering the vacuum in the brake booster and the noise of the valves etc. Many finally learn for the first time in their life via that experience we indeed hear more than you do. I joke with them not to complain of the noise, their compliant will never be heard! Rich Shull
Posted by Pre Rain Man Autism at 8:49 AM
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.